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"What we believe is that this was not random," said Tulsa County Sgt. Shannon Clark. "That somebody in her social network was the perpetrator of this crime. There are people in that group that may have information."

Investigators have gone back to interviews done in the days while Dena was still missing and gone back over physical evidence from the field where her body was found. Investigators believe new fingerprint techniques and new DNA testing can reveal new facts.

"We're also looking at our physical evidence. We have some specific pieces of evidence from the scene that were collected and we're doing research on new testing to see what can be done with those," said Tulsa County Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Frazier...

The cause of death was never determined because of the condition of the body but the medical examiner did conclude it was a homicide.

The city of Tulsa Forensic Lab is one of the first labs in the country to use a state-of-the-art laser that can separate a suspect and victim’s DNA cells in samples that are too mixed. Police and victims told FOX23 that they hope the new technology will help solve more cases and reduce DNA testing backlog.

West Tulsa resident Diana Dean has high hopes as well. She is the mother of Dena Dean, who was slain in 1998.
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She prays this new laser cracks her daughter’s case. Wilson (Tulsa Forensic Lab Manager) says that if there is enough DNA evidence left in Dena Dean’s case, they could use the laser to try and get a clearer DNA profile.

“As the years go by, [my family] keeps hoping that there is something new or something better that will come up and help [the case],” Diana said.

She keeps Dena’s memory alive by telling her story whenever she can while she waits for the day, she can finally have justice.

“I have to fight for her. She doesn’t have a voice, so I have to fight for her.”

On Wednesday, a new investigation into these cases began as the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office started tackling 28 of Tulsa's unsolved murders.
Mike Huff solved some of the highest-profile murders in Tulsa's history in his 31 years as a Tulsa police detective. He's currently head of the International Association of Cold Case Investigators."There are some cases here from decades ago," Huff said.

(...)

"I hope they find the answers to ours, but as long as they find the answers to one," Larry Dean, Dena's father said.

The cases will be reassessed by a Cold Case task Force, made up of 10 members, from retired Tulsa police and FBI investigators, to homicide detectives among many others.

Mike Huff, coordinator of the task force, said they sifted through 10 boxes full of data from previous detectives on the case. He said they are reviewing physical evidence to determine if new technology would produce new insights.

“If we didn’t think there was a possibility of an arrest, we are all smart enough to say we are wasting our time,” Huff said.

“I truly believe we have an idea from an investigative stand point who has been responsible for that, but right now we are lacking enough evidence to prosecute that case,” Regalado said.